1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an arrangement forming a third stream out of a first stream and a second stream of printed products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such arrangements are known for processing so-called double-up products. Such double-up products are formed, for example, by means of a gather-stitcher and, in general, are also stitched by it. In a cutting machine, also referred to as a trimmer, these double-up products are trimmed with the spine or back leading. In this way, out of each double-up product two printed products are produced which are trimmed on three sides. Downstream of the cutting machine, the trimmed printed products are conveyed in two synchronously moving streams. For further processing of the printed products, these two streams are supplied to a processing machine, respectively. These machines are, in particular, stackers, for forming packets, or winding devices. In the stackers, the printed products are stacked atop one another as is known in the art. By means of the winding devices, the streams are converted to imbricated streams and these are wound to rolls by means of winding straps. These rolls can be stored and unwound at a desired point in time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement of the aforementioned kind which simplifies processing of double streams and, in particular, processing of double-up products. Despite of this, a comparatively high output is to be provided.
In accordance with the present invention, this is achieved in that a second transport device is arranged downstream of the first transport device, which is conveying-effective in a direction substantially transverse to the conveying direction of the first transport device, and in that the two transport devices provide steps where the printed products can be conveyed in a cascade fashion and with which the first and second streams are combined to a common third stream on the second transport device.
According to the arrangement of the present invention, the two streams are combined to a common stream. This is achieved by means of steps where the printed products are conveyed in a cascade-like fashion. The technical term for such steps or cascade-like conveying paths is xe2x80x9cbumpturnxe2x80x9d. They are generally known in the printed products industry and are functionally reliable as well as controllable without great configurational expenditure. Since only one stream must be further processed accordingly, it is only necessary to provide a single further processing machine to which this stream is then supplied. In this way, the processing sequence can be simplified and costs can be saved. For example, the printed products can be combined in a single stacker to packets or can be rolled onto a single winding roller.
When, according to a further embodiment of the invention, the arrangement is configured such that the common third stream is an imbricated stream, it can be wound to a roll. The output of the device according to the invention is at least comparable to that of known devices of this kind. For products of a format DIN A5 (German industrial standard), it is easily possible to process two times 13,000 copies per hour.